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22 CREATIVE STORYTELLING RULES FROM PIXAR — PILGRIM SOUL
We all tell stories. No matter our profession, it’s important to know how to craft a compelling narrative. However, just because it’s important to be able to tell a story doesn’t mean it’s easy.
In 2012, Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats shared some knowledge on how the world-renowned animation studio tells such successful stories. She posted a series of tweets, compiling 22 pieces pearls of wisdom she said she learned about storytelling while working at Pixar. Coats is no longer at the company, and her Twitter thread is long since buried on her page, but the contents of it were picked up, dissected, taught and even printed on inspirational posters. Still today, people share and tweet and retweet those 22 rules for storytelling that Coats shared with us. Perhaps the rules have stayed with us, even seven years later, because they’re approachable. You don’t have to be a storyboard artist to understand what she’s saying. These rules are applicable to any type of story and any type of storyteller.
